About

Welcome to the Terrastro Gallery. Here you can explore Australian nature and landscape images taken under the light of Moon or the Milky Way, read articles about places I travelled to, and keep up to date with the news and travel plans.

I’m a hobbyist astronomer based in Melbourne, Australia. My passion in astronomy started in 2007 when my daughter Milana (then four years old) came back from kindergarten, where they had a “space exploration week” and asked to help her find aliens. So we got a pair of binoculars and joined our local astronomy club – Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society. When I saw the Great Orion Nebula through a telescope I knew I was hooked. We then got a small telescope, which made made room for a larger one, then a larger one…

I am not sure how big a telescope needs to be to find those aliens but I keep trying.

At Border Stargaze star party in 2009 (held near Albury on the border of New South Wales and Victoria) I borrowed a tripod and pointed my DSLR at the sky which added another dimension to my hobby. We are lucky here in Australia and have access to true dark skies, amazing landscapes and nature scenes, not too far away from the major cities. A lot of of planning and preparation goes into each photography session and of course there is an element of luck to catch the clear skies at the right moment and in the right place.

I hope you enjoy browsing through the photos and reading the commentaries. This site is updated regularly (hopefully once a month after New Moon if the weather is clear) so please come back often.